Someone tell me more about "Hook Slider", a 1950s baseball adventure comic strip

 

I'm always on the lookout for original comic art. With comic books, I'm mostly interested in grabbing Fantastic Four-related pages, but in recent years, I've grabbed a number of comic strip art pages with one overlying criterion: does it look good? (Affordability is also something that sets a lot of comic strip art apart from many comic book pages.)

And thus we come across this very obscure 1950s baseball-adventure comic strip, Hook Slider. Beyond some very basic details about its theme, I can find next to nothing about this apparently short-lived strip, and so I'm here, late at night on the internet, to show off this new art purchase but to also see if anyone has more information about it.

The strip follows ballplayer Hook Slider, which is just about the best name for a baseball protagonist that I can think of, and one of the reasons I'm so interested in learning more.

You'll notice that "WEDN." is written in the top corner of the strip. A different panel tells me that this was published on January 26th, but it doesn't give me a year. If this was indeed a comic strip from the 1950s, then this particular strip was from 1955, the only year in the decade where the 26th falls on a Wednesday.

Our coach in the second panel is named "Mr. Dryver", another rock-solid baseball name, to go along with his rock-solid neck and haircut. If this isn't the epitome of a 1950s Danny Murtaugh-like head coach, I don't know what is.

Also, I wonder if Major League pitchers are still forbidden from bowling.

The reference to the Braves and Coach Dryver's Boston shirt makes me wonder if this strip used the names of actual Major League franchises. The Boston Braves had moved to Milwaukee by '55, if that is when this was published, so that might be why our coach is telling Slider that he was sent to Boston from the Braves. Of course, this might all be a coincidence.

Bob Sherry is the artist credited on this strip, and I'm having a similarly difficult time learning more about Sherry and his work. It seems he was a World War II pilot who worked for King Features for years, ghosting on strips like Red Ryder. This strip was published, as you can see in the second panel, by McNaught, a newspaper syndicate that operated from the 1920s until the '80s.

This is one of those strips that might be lost to time. There are a few strips available to purchase on eBay and the like, but none of the listings provide much more backstory. In some comic utopia, there'd be a collection of this series out there, but here and now, I'd settle for a little more info. 

Spider-Man visits Pittsburgh in Amazing Spider-Man 292

A while ago, I wrote about a two-issue story in which the Avengers visited Pittsburgh, and of Thor's quick stopover in the Steel City. Both were fun, even if they mostly only featured generic references to the city. When I saw that 1987's Amazing Spider-Man #292 had Pittsburgh as its backdrop, I had to grab it and take some pictures. Let's see what awaits our hero!

Unlike the Avengers and Thor issues, this Spider-Man story is chock full of mostly accurate Pittsburgh references. and we start out with downtown Pittsburgh, the Allegheny River, and Three Rivers Stadium! The stadium would have had to be about ten times its size to look like this from downtown, but I'll allow it. And we also start off strong with references to both the Pirates and the Steelers, longtime tenants of the all-purpose stadium.

Spider-Man then somehow swings past the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning, which is miles away and is not surrounded by any buildings he could really swing from, but, well, okay. Spidey is following after Mary Jane Watson, to whom he has recently proposed, but apparently MJ needs time to think it over by talking with her sister, who lives in Pittsburgh. This is the first time I learned that MJ even had a sister! Who is this mysterious sibling who for some reason lives in Pittsburgh? Why didn't she live with their Aunt Anna in New York City? Questions abound.

This issue is basically just one Pittsburgh reference after another. I love 'em, of course, but I wonder why writer David Michelinie and artist Alex Saviuk decided to make this issue one big travelogue. Here we see stately Mellon Square...

...and now we're at Point State Park. Wait, this is basically where Spidey was on page one, across the river from Three Rivers Stadium. Why did he swing to Oakland just to turn around and go all the way back to...you know what? Never mind. I'll just enjoy this for what it is. It looks like Saviuk drew the fountain at Point State Park, but the water got colored green like a tree. I'll admit that I do not know if the fountain was running in '87. I guess there could have been a tree there back then.

What's this? The Gateway Clipper over MJ's shoulder? Why yes, it is!

Peter and Mary Jane discuss her sister's plight as they take a stroll through the park, where MJ mentions the nearby Duquesne University.

Meanwhile, there's some shady business going down at a nearby industrial park. This might actually be the industrial park off of the 31st Street Bridge, which has since been retrofitted into the 31st Street Studios television soundstage.

But the main story takes us back to Duquesne University. I think this is supposed to be the Old Main administrative building?

Both the Avengers story and this one pay special attention to the Liberty Bridge, which is right off of campus, as opposed to the Ft. Pitt Bridge, which I think is more visually appealing. It seems that the Spider-Slayer is also in the 'burgh, which is tough news for Peter. I guess using the Liberty Bridge makes sense when you want to bring in that ultimate Pittsburgh visual reference...

...the Duquesne Incline! I suppose it is pretty iconic. But I think that those not from Pittsburgh might be overthinking how much it's actually used anymore.

At the top of the Incline is, of course, scenic Mt. Washington, which is also name dropped in this issue. They made sure to name pretty much every location in this book.

"We didn't get the opportunity to see the Incline car well enough on the last page. Put it in again."

Wait, "the trolley"?! I take back everything good I've said so far.

So Mary Jane has a sister, and also two young nephews?! And one of them is, I guess, a die-hard Pirates fan, even wearing the '70s-style pillbox hat? Do we ever see these people again?

Our last scene for the book takes place at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Mysteries solved and villains defeated, Peter and MJ head back to New York.

But not before Mary Jane accepts Peter's marriage proposal! Wait, what? What I thought was a throwaway issue is actually one of some spider-historical importance! It's actually the issue that leads directly into Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 - the wedding issue!

The back cover confirms it! I had no idea.

This whole issue was a pretty wild ride and I'm glad that I picked it up. It managed to squeeze in over a dozen Pittsburgh references in just over 20 pages. I'd love to find and share Pittsburgh in other comics, too, so if anyone has any suggestions, send 'em over!

Pittsburgh in Journey into Mystery #120: With My Hammer In Hand...!"

A few months ago, I wrote about the two-part Avengers "Peril in Pittsburgh!" storyline from the early 1980s. That story specifically references 1965's Journey into Mystery #120, Thor's debut title, so I picked that one up for the purpose of seeing how Pittsburgh was portrayed in the issue.

The Avengers storyline includes a character who ostensibly picked up a piece of Thor's broken hammer, which, in a convoluted way, let to the creation of a kind-of villain with a sliver of Mjolnir's power. Thor broke his hammer in an early '60s battle, which led him to reforge the weapon in the place he thought most suitable on earth - a mill in Pittsburgh.

Here's the cover. "Thor" was overshadowing the "Journey into Mystery" part of the title by quite a bit at this point. Oh, and there are a lot of jokes - or at least one obvious one - to be made about the caption. We were all thinking it.

This page-one title is a little better, but still...sheesh. Anyway, we're greeted by the all-star creative cast of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta and Artie Simek. This was from the time when Stan and Jack were handling pretty much every book at Marvel. Thor, wearing eye protection and sticking his hands directly into a blast furnace, re-forges his hammer as awestruck onlookers gawk and provide some exposition.

And on page two...he's done! You'll notice Kirby's photocopy in the background of the first panel, which he sometimes did. And the everyday joes cheer! But now it's time to test the hammer out by destroying some property.

Thor, no!! That's a support beam! You've doomed us all!!

During this display, one of the workers exclaims "The Mets would trade their whole first team for a guy who can do THAT!", and are you kidding me, Stan?! You make it a point to note that Thor has travelled to Pittsburgh, PA, and the guy talks about the Mets? This is one of the only times where it's prudent to namecheck the Pirates, and you go with the Mets. The battlin' Bucs, at this point, were only a few years removed from their 1960 World Series championship, and in 1965 they had a lineup that included Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Bill Mazeroski, Vern Law, Elroy Face and Bob Friend! They won 90 games that year! They were a pretty good team! Why is this guy talking about the Mets?!?

Well, anyway, I'm sure there's more to this story, so let's move on. On page three, Thor says goodbye to the workers at the mill...

...and then he flies away, and that's it. He's in Pittsburgh for two pages plus a few panels on the third. All of the connections made in Avengers #192-93 were made up after the fact, including the all important "I found a piece of Mjolnir and made it into a keychain" plot point. This was very disappointing to learn!

But, well, we're here, so let's check out what else happens in this issue! Thor arrives back in New York (sigh) where he finds that Jane Foster is missing. He tries to enlist some help from the Avengers in finding her, but the original members have mostly disbanded, being replaced by the likes of Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

Oh, here's an ad for some of the other books that were on sale at the same time, including Fantastic Four #43: "Lo, There Shall Be an Ending!", which is a great book.

Later, Thor runs into...is that Zsa Zsa Gabor??

And soon, Thor comes face-to-face with Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man!

There are some real gems here as far as ads are concerned. This one page has the classic X-Ray specs ad, plus one for the Strat-O-Matic!

This issue had a backup tale as well, which also, well, featured Thor and his fellow Asgardians.

The letters page, "The Hammer Strikes!", is a good one in this issue. It starts off with a writer kind of(?) complaining about Jack Kirby's art, but then claims that Thor is the most exciting title around. Thanks, Mike Gable of Ridgefield Park, NJ.

And at the very end of the issue, we have two more great old ads. The one on the right is fun, offering up an old army Jeep for $278, apparently? I'm sure there was some fine print there somewhere.

The second ad, which is maybe the Columbia Record Club for the 1960s, offers up 10 records with a total of 60 songs. This was 1965, so we're talking about the confluence of the British Invasion, Motown, Surf Rock and the last gasp of 1950s Pop. Look at that list! I see the Beatles, Monkees, Kinks, Temptations, Supremes, Dixie Cups...I hope that teens took up this offer and danced awkwardly, just like the illustration suggests.

Well. This was kind of an underwhelming issue to pick up, because I thought that it'd tie in more to the Avengers storyline or at least show Pittsburgh a bit more. And what it did show was pretty generic. But what can you do? At least I got to laugh at the title for a bit.

Pictures from the 2015 Comic-Con International, part 1: Tuesday (TMNT art show and more!)

Comic-Con 2015 is in the books and the show is as big as ever.  2015 was my fourth year in a row at the San Diego event, and I feel like I'm just starting to get a handle on things.  I had a great time and took a lot of pictures...those two things bring us to this new addition to the long-running blog tradition of inundating the Internet with pictures from the show.  So let's get started and see where it takes us.  All of the pictures, including the picture of someone's grandpa riding a Conan O'Brien escalator at the San Diego International Airport, are from the Tuesday before the show.

Conan had a big presence at the convention, and he filmed several episodes of his late night talk show  near the convention.  Tickets to these tapings went fast (of course) and I wasn't able to get any.  Apparently, Funko gave away an exclusive Conan bobblehead at each taping, many of which naturally were then sold for lots and lots of cash online.

After checking into out house for the week, I took a drive downtown and saw some of the Comic-Con setup.  I highly recommend arriving in San Diego at least a day before the convention to battle jet lag, and also to get some bearings for the days to come.  One of the signs of Comic-Con's imminent arrival are, well, the literal signs that hang from lampposts all about town, but especially in the Gaslamp district.  Many of this year's banners featured Ant-Man.

I wonder what happens to all of these banners after the show?  They remain hanging for a few days after the convention ends, and I'm always tempted to get a ladder and try to grab one.

As in years past, many of the exhibits were still being constructed on Tuesday, with some not reaching completion until just before the doors opened on Wednesday (and sometimes even later).  I guess the show "Heroes", for whatever reason, is being revived by NBC this fall, and there were a lot of promotional items for this across the convention hall and outside.  Zach Levi, he of NerdHQ fame, has a role in the show, and he even got a giant standee of himself.  If I was on one of these, I'd probably try to take it home with me.  But where would you put it?

Here's the outside of the convention center.  This was taken after the hall was closed to exhibitors for the evening, and a lot of people wearing pink badges were streaming out at this time.  Even though I had a badge of my own waiting for me (an orange professional badge), it's hard to not get anxious seeing other people with access to the inside.

THE EYE!

Walking up the steps to the top of the convention center, you could see inside the Sails Pavilion as it was being put together.

Across the street, the Hilton had a giant tongue banner draped over its side.  Okay.

The Adult Swim attraction, always one of the must-see outside exhibits, was located behind the convention center this year, right along the water.  There was a carnival theme to it this year.  In the background you can see the Meatwad's Dome exhibit, the only holdover from 2014.

Rick and Morty (one of my favorite new shows) had a big presence at Comic-Con this year.  This display wasn't interactive at all...but it was still pretty cool.  Again, what happens to this after Comic-Con?

Here's the back.  You can see Rick carrying a bag.  I took a peek in it once or twice, thinking that there might be some kind of prize inside, but as far as I could tell, the staff just used it for trash.  That might have been a cover...who knows?

This was the last picture I got before some of the security workers yelled at me to stop taking pictures.  I suppose Adult Swim didn't want their setup leaked before the show started.  Being outside, though, I'm sure that was impossible to prevent.

And here are some bridge shots, a requirement at Comic-Con.

Here's the convention center from the bridge.

I never actually made it to the offsite area across from the convention center.  This was partially because the Adult Swim event moved away, partially because the events that took its place didn't really inspire me to make the trek across the bridge during convention hours, and partially because there was so much to do in other places.  The above picture is the framework for another carnival-style ride, which was apparently a pretty popular theme this year.

Later on the convention, they brought a terrifying, giant mutant dog to lay on top of the house.

The Pirates were playing the San Diego Padres this night and a few nights during the convention.  They were of course playing in Pittsburgh, but I thought it was funny that we switched places for a week.  I was also lucky because I was able to catch some of the games on local tv and radio while we were in town.

The big event for the night was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "Shell Shocked" art exhibit at the Basic: Urban Kitchen and Bar in downtown San Diego, just a few blocks from the convention center.  There were also some official Comic-Con events going at the year-old library this night, so Comic-Con has formally started to take over Tuesday night as well.  I went there and, what do you know, the Pirate game was playing, so it was a double treat.

There were a number of displays, as well as some live art going on.

This was probably my favorite of the art displays - a senior turtle and mouser.

I don't know who these people are - I just thought it'd be fun to take a picture with them.  And it was!!

Someone involved with the exhibit also had some of his collection on display.  I ended up buying some cheap art and spending about an hour at the bar before heading back to get ready for Comic-Con's first day.  Won't it be fun to see some of those pictures as well?  YES IT WILL BE.  And oh, we'll see them.  Soon.